Aug 15, 2009 | Big Shot, Decor Elements, Embellishments, Stampin' Up! Events |
Sorry about the late post – the day slipped away from me and I just realized I didn’t put one up.
I took Ryan and a friend to the Skate Park today. They spent several hours on their skateboards and Ryan came home with bumps and bruises and scrapes – oh my! He should be good and tired tonight and probably sore tomorrow. But he had fun!
I wanted to share with you one of the gifts I received at convention. 
This is the gift that my upline Wendy Randall made for everyone in her downline. She gave them to us at our group meeting on Wednesday night. The colors are Crushed Curry and Pumpkin Pie. This is a Top Note purse that she showed me how to make a few months ago. I have made several different ones and I’m pretty sure I’ve shown them on my blog. Hers used the new Elegant Bouquet Textured Impressions Embossing Folder for the Big Shot. The Embossing Folders give a very deep impression because they have both the positive and negative of the embossed portion. If you use a texture plate it is much more subtle. The closure on the front was created using a Build-A-Brad. And the front flap was wheeled with the Jumbo Wheel called Friendly Words. Wendy also sponged the embossed portion and the front flap to give everything more dimension by the addition of the shadows.
Inside the purse Wendy had a container of embellishments – mine was Basic Gray Corduroy Buttons – I’m assuming everyone had something different – but I didn’t actually ask anyone else what they got. We also had door prizes at our meeting and I won one of the new Decor Elements called Eat – it has the word “eat” and underneath a fork. I’ll have to use it to create a menu board to put up in the kitchen.
That goes right along with one of the business classes we took. It was called “Create a Simpler Life”.
We talked about how hard it can be to fit everything we want into our routines. So we learned about some everyday shortcuts to
prepare for workshops, make meals, cleaning, and more. And one of the things mentioned was planning a menu each week. Over the years I have done that at various times – planned meals for the week, planned themes for each night – like mexican night, pasta night, chicken night, etc. I need to get back to doing something like that again.
In that class
they gave away a few prizes and my roommate, Diane, won!
She received a book called “Mrs. Meyer’s Clean Home”. The author is from Iowa which is where Diane lives so she was thrilled to get it.
Now her job is to read it and pass on to the rest of us all the great cleaning tips she learns! I’ll take any help I can get to make cleaning this house easier. I worked on dusting and floors on Friday before my club meeting. But didn’t finish so I have more to do.
I had a great time at our Stamper’s Club meeting last night. And all the orders were placed today. Everybody is going to continue with the club which we will start again in Sept. I’ll share those projects later this week. One was the Tile Card from the blog tour that I also used as the project for our group meeting at convention and I posted the picture and instructions that week also – so I won’t show that one again. But the other two I’ll show – one was a demo from the group meeting and the other one of our Make ‘n Takes from Stampin’ Up!.
Have fun the rest of the weekend!
Aug 12, 2009 | Stampin' Up! Events |
I downloaded my convention pictures last night and selected a few to share with you today. The Stampin’ Up! convention was in Salt Lake City, Utah – downtown at the convention center. We stayed a few blocks away at the Little America Hotel. Enjoy!
view from the plane as we approach SLC
We are waiting in line for Memento Mall - a very long line!
Banners in the convention center - Inspire, Create, Share.
STARZ group
In the main hall during General Session.
Sue and I visiting with Shelli Gardner.
Entertaiment & Awards night - performance by Tonic Sol-fa.
Sue, Monika, Diane, and Michele on stage
This is one of my cards I found on the display boards - beaded butterfly.
view of the mountains walking back to the hotel each day
And look who came home with us!
Aug 10, 2009 | Big Shot, Designer Series Paper, Stampin' Up! Events |
I am home from convention. We learned SO MUCH and saw SO MANY new ideas it is going to take weeks to digest all that information.
I am so tired and I came home with a cold too. So my head is groggy today and after the boys got on the bus I actually climbed back in bed and went back to sleep. I really can’t remember the last time I did that. Once I am up I always try to stay up. I spent the past couple of hours working on some volunteer stuff for the high school marching band. I still have to unpack.
The convention was the best – just like it is every year. It was so much fun seeing the new ideas, talking to old friends and meeting new friends, stamping projects at our make-n-takes, swaps and group meeting and then in our room each night. We had some awesome meals and tried a few new restaurants as well as eating at some old standbys. We have committed to trying out some more new ones next year. Over the next weeks I’ll be sharing swaps and projects from convention – I have so many it will take that long to share it all with you.
Today I’m going to share the project I created for our Roommate swap. There were 4 of us in our room and we started this last year and decided to continue again this year – we each brought one project to share with everyone in the room so Friday night was our Roommate swap.
I had two projects – a Scratch pad holder with a matching pen and the chapstick butterfly. The butterfly idea was shared by another demo, Julia Betten
court, from the UdderlyAwesome group. The butterfly is the largest one on the Beautiful Butterflies Die for the Big Shot. It shows on the die as only half the butterfly and you need to fold your paper and place it on the die to cut. The chapstick is wrapped with a coordinating piece of Designer Series paper – I used sticky strip to adhere it. Fold the butterfly in half and punch a hole with the 1/8″ handheld punch a little bit in from the fold. Thread the ribbon through and tie around the chapstick in the front. Isn’t it cute?
The scratch pad holder is the same project I did for teacher gifts at the end of May so I already posted that earlier. The inside papers are stamped with the new hostess set called Of the Earth – it is a level 1 set. The ink is Summer Sun. The Designer Series Paper is the Pink Flamingo paper. The daisy die was cut twice with Summer Sun card stock and there is a white jumbo grommet set in the center of the flower. These little scratch pads are quick and easy to make.
I’ll share more about convention later. I have lots of pictures to download so that I can show you some of the highlights.
Happy Stampin’!
Aug 7, 2009 | Big Shot, Chipboard, Designer Series Paper, Stampin' Up! Events |
My Room mates at convention this year are the same as last year:
- Sue is in my downline and lives in Georgia, we are traveling together to and from convention
- Michele is from Iowa. I met her at my first convention when we decided to room together never having met each other.
- Diane is also from Iowa. I met her last year when the four of us decided to room together.
We exchange room mate gifts each year and I always want to think of something unique. It’s not always easy – and I was running out of time….So this year I kind of have a combo room mate gift – something new and something old that they have probably all seen before. But in any case I’m sure they will be pleased.
Since this post is going up while I’m at convention I will have already given the girls their gifts and don’t need to hide them. Both of these projects I have previously posted – one is a bag tag – I made myself and OWL tag – click here for the original post – so that I could be identified as part of the Late Night Stampers group. My tag also won the Late Night Stamper’s Owl contest – I’m not sure I ever posted about that – if you are part of the demo only group my tag is on the main yahoo page for the group. If you see me around convention I hope you will say hi. Michele is also a member of the LNS group so I decided to make her an Owl tag also. Ours have the “LNS” on the front and our names on the back. And then ultimately decided to also make a tag for Diane and Sue – their tags use the chipboard birds. My original tag uses the retired Good Morning Sunshine Designer Series papers so I had to find a different paper to use for the new tags so it would all be current product – I decided on the Tall Tales Designer Series Paper and thought the tags turned out cute! I hope you like them.
The base of the tag is cut from the Long Board chipboard pieces using the Big Shot and the Top Note Die. I also cut the designer paper for the front and the back using the Top Note die. The paper is attached with the Anywhere Glue Stick. The names are die cut using the Billboard Alphabet strip. I colored the chipboard pieces using Sponge Daubers and Craft ink.
Diane's Bag Tag
Michele's Bag Tag
back of tag
The second little gift I am giving the girls is the little game night box that I gave to my leadership conference roommates. I know they have all seen the project already because it was the one that won the stamping challenge in January. So you can see it here at this post.
Sue's Bag Tag
If I’m lucky this year’s convention bag will match my tags. But probably not. Every year we get a bag with all of our stuff inside. So with thousands of demonstrators carrying the same bag – you have to put a tag on it so you can make sure you keep up with your own. I’m excited for us to put these on our bags!
I glued all the pieces on with Crystal Effects so they should not come off.
I’ll let you know how they hold up.
Happy Stampin’!
Aug 5, 2009 | Animal Stories, Stampin' Up! Events, SU Ribbon, Uncategorized |
On Tuesday night my roommates(Sue, Michele, Diane) and I participated in a Shoebox swap with a group of Demonstrators at one of the local hotels. This is my first real Shoebox swap at convention and I’m excited to participate. Basically this is how it works – there are in this case 42 people plus the hostess. Everyone designs a full card and you cuts supplies for 42+1 for the hostess. Half of them we make into finished cards and the other half stay as pieces. When we get there we turn in our finished cards and take our shoebox to a spot at a table. Inside the shoebox are the pieces for the other cards (individually bagged) plus all the supplies needed to make the card and a completed card. Then we get divided into two groups. Each group makes half of the 42 cards by rotating around the tables to all of the shoeboxes. Then when we leave we pick up the other half of the cards that are already made for us. The hostess sorts all the finished cards while we are making the non-finished ones.
Here is my card for the Shoebox Swap – I hope everyone likes it – it is a Pocket card – I love pocket cards for invitations but birth announcements and even as a gift card holder it would work too. This one just says “let’s celebrate” so it could be made into an invitation or just a birthday card.
The stamp set is Animal Stories and I used the Tall Tales Designer Series Paper. The colors are Old Olive, So Saffron, Chocolate Chip and Brilliant Blue.
The picture shows two cards – one with the insert pulled out of the pocket and one with it tucked inside.
I hope everyone liked it.
This should be posting on Wed – and it is check-in day and our first glimpse at Memento Mall!
Happy Stampin’!
Aug 4, 2009 | class, D is for Dog, Stampin' Up! Events, SU Ribbon |
Tuesday is the day I am leaving for convention – and if these work correctly this should be posting on Tuesday – so I’m probably on the plane right now! It is so exciting every year! This is my 4th convention and I hope to get to go to many more! So while I’m gone I plan to share some of my swap cards and projects that I made for convention.
This card I created for my last class and also to take as a swap to convention. 
I love dogs and this uses one of the new sets that is in the catalog called D is for Dog. There is also a C is for Cat set so if you are a cat person instead of a dog person just substitute the other set since they were designed with the same basic pieces in them.
The little bone on the ribbon was Lisa’s idea. Wasn’t it a great idea – it added just the perfect touch to this very quick and simple card. The Chocolate Chip piece is stamped with the bone and paw images in Chocolate Chip ink. Then we tied a piece of Old Olive wide Grosgrain ribbon around and attached it with dimensionals to the card front. The dog is stamped in Chocolate Chip ink on Whisper White card stock and cut out. He is also popped up on dimensionals. The bone is stamped and cut out and tied to the ribbon with a piece of white crochet thread. The little quote is “a dog wags its tail with its heart. – Martin Buxbaum”.
Very quick and minimal supplies for this one.
Have a great week!
